Vista, Office Sales Give Microsoft a Strong Q3

If lukewarm press on Vista was supposed to have had some financial impact on
Microsoft, the market didn't listen to any of it. Soon after the Nasdaq Stock
Market closed, Microsoft released solid earnings figures for the third quarter
that included debuts of the retail version of Windows Vista and 2007 Office
System and beat analysts' forecasts.

Microsoft's $14.4 billion is a 32* percent increase from the year-ago quarter,
when it came through with $10.9 billion.

Net income came in at $4.93 billion or 49 cents per share, better than the
$2.98 billion and 29 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Prior to market close, Microsoft had forecast a net of 45 cents to 46 cents
per share on revenue of $13.7 billion to $14 billion.

Microsoft has been accused of being soft on forecasts. The Associated Press
even reported that Steve Ballmer tried to temper
Wall Street's enthusiasm over Vista's consumer release in a meeting with
financial analysts in February: "[Vista] is primarily a chance to sustain what
revenue we have -- not every release is a revenue growing opportunity."

Even so, Microsoft is predicting a strong finish to fiscal 2007, with another
$13-plus billion quarter and 37 to 39 cents per share for Q4.